Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Partners Jim Messenger and Brian Wall, Of Counsel John Moran, and Associate Ben O’Grady recently prevailed on a summary judgment motion on behalf of an interstate pipeline company in a nationwide class action lawsuit. This victory is thanks as well to Partners Peter Siachos and Nancy Kelly for providing consultations on class and expert issues.
The plaintiffs, former pipeline workers, asserted claims against the pipeline company and its affiliates alleging that exposure to radon and radioactive material while working on local distribution pipelines that connected to the interstate pipeline caused cancer and subcellular changes that significantly increased the risk of developing blood and lung cancers. The plaintiffs asserted claims for negligence, fraudulent concealment and medical monitoring, both individually and on behalf of a putative class of all persons who have ever worked on any pipeline that connected to the interstate gas pipeline.
In the motion and at the subsequent hearing, Gordon & Rees attorneys argued that there was no evidence that the class representative had suffered any injury that could support a negligence claim or had experienced any subcellular changes that could support a medical monitoring claim. The Court agreed and dismissed the class action claims in their entirety for lack of a class representative with a viable individual claim. The Court also determined that the pipeline company did not owe the plaintiffs a duty of care with respect to 11 of the 12 asserted bases for the negligence claim because the plaintiffs were not employees of the interstate pipeline company. Finally, the Court dismissed the fraudulent concealment claim because it is not a viable cause of action in Massachusetts.